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Friday, 22 February 2019

ReadItDaddy's Second Picture Book of the Week - Week Ending 22nd February 2019: "Harold Snipperpot's Best Disaster Ever" by Beatrice Alemagna (Thames and Hudson)

Posted by ReadItDaddy at February 22, 2019 Labels: , , ,
Our Second Picture Book of the Week is from a talented author-illustrator whose work is always utterly fabulous.

We always love the totally surreal set-ups in Beatrice Alemagna's books, beautifully illustrated and totally involving for kids who don't just want the same old ordinary everyday world to be reflected in their stories.

In "Harold Snipperpot's Best Disaster Ever" meet the hapless young chap who is determined that his birthday this year won't just be the same boring non-event it is every other year.

After all, seven years old is a pretty important age to reach - well, when you're seven anyway!

Harold desperately wants something special to happen.

He's never had a real birthday party because his rather mean parents are just too grumpy for all that frivolity. They hate parties, in fact they don't seem to like each other very much either. 

But this year Harold's mum does come up with a plan and thanks to an amazing man named Mr. Ponzio, something incredible is going to happen on Harold's birthday - and it's going to be absolutely extraordinary (and just a bit crazy, chaotic and...disastrous?)

Mr Ponzio is such a great character, with a touch of mischief and craziness which initially horrifies Harold's family, and even poor Harold himself before they end up going along with the complete chaos. After all, it's going to be a far better way to spend a birthday than being grumpy, right?

On the day of Harold's birthday, animals start arriving at the house! It's amazing, but disaster looms - have you ever tried to play host to an entire zoo's worth of animals?

As ever Beatrice cooks up a crazy story with fast paced action and the most luscious illustrations. Another fab winner from her!

Sum this book up in a sentence: A superb little lesson for all of us, particularly grumpy parents, and a riotous celebration of the imagination and wonder of being a child again. 

"Harold Snipperpot's Best Disaster Ever" by Beatrice Alemagna is out now, published by Thames and Hudson (kindly supplied for review).